Explosion kills guests, worshippers at Adamawa mosque unveiling

A suicide bomber on Friday sneaked into the inauguration of a new mosque in the suburb of Yola, Adamawa State, killing scores of people.

An eyewitness, Ibrahim Garba, told our correspondent on the telephone that a mighty blast occurred during the opening of a new mosque in Jambutu, a suburb of Yola at about 2pm.

He said many worshippers were at the mosque to have a feel of the new structure and have their Friday’s prayer.

Garba said the incident occurred shortly after the prayer session began, killing scores of people, whose actual number could not be could not be ascertained while several others were injured.

He said, “A young man sneaked in among the worshippers at the opening of a new mosque and immediately detonated the bomb, strapped on him, killing about a hundred people and injuring several others.”

A member of the first aid group of Jama’atul Bid’a Wa Ikhamatus Sunnah, Mallam Yusuf Osama, told journalists that the suicide bomber detonated his explosives shortly after the Friday prayer commenced.

Osama, who spoke to journalists at about 3pm, said, “It is a gory scene, many people were killed in the blast and we are busy evacuating dead bodies and injured victims to hospital.

“The suicide bomber wanted to get access to the main session of the mosque so that he will cause massive havoc but before he could reach the building, the bomb detonated.

He added that the “decapitated head of the suicide bomber was lying among the mangled bodies of the victims.”

The Public Relations Officer of Federal Medical Centre in Yola, Mallam Adamu Dodo, who confirmed the incident to journalists, explained that several victims of the bomb blast had been evacuated to the hospital for treatment.

Dodo, who did not disclose the number of casualties,  said most of the injured people needed blood transfusion due to the amount of blood they had lost before they were brought to the hospital.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, Adamawa State Police Command, Othman Abubakar, said so far, the casualty figure had not been confirmed.

The Senior Information Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency, Sani Datti, in a statement put the death toll at 27, adding that 96 others were injured.